


Coming Home

by NightWriter89



Category: Final Fantasy XIV, Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, FFXIV crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-01-31 17:18:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18595864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightWriter89/pseuds/NightWriter89
Summary: Emma Swan had been playing the Final Fantasy franchise ever since she could hold a console and she finally is able to go to the Final Fantasy Fan Festival. There she runs into her online friends and one of them is all too familiar...





	1. Chapter 1

 

_The quiver of my bow was pointing straight at the monster in front of me. I took a shuddering breath and, as I released the arrow, it flew straight towards its goal, making a bull's eye. At the same time, I got hit by something and for a moment the world spun. I turned around slowly and got a volley of fire over myself. I ducked but couldn’t prevent my back from getting scorched, or at least my armor. Suddenly the fire stopped and I looked up, only to see the body of the dragon that attacked me hit the ground. Behind it stood a dapper looking samurai with a smug grin looking at me._

_“Saved you again, Aithlin,” her voice sounded through the dungeon._

_“That you did,” I replied as I nocked an arrow in my bow and fired it straight past her head, felling a nasty Gnath. “And I just repaid the favor,” I smirked at her._

_The samurai nodded her head and it gave me the time to check her out. She was wearing a long-sleeved shirt with a deep v-neck, the sleeves were beige and the body red. Around her back hung a brown leather holster where her sword belonged. Her hands were covered in red leather guards and around her head was a red bandana. Her long legs were clad in black jeans and black boots._ _I myself was clad in the red armor of the Archer’s guild, a Baldur Bow in hand._

_“Why, thank you. You ready for the final boss?” she asked as she strode further in the dungeon._

_I hung my bow on my back and took a sprint to come up beside her._

_“You bet, I’ve been preparing for this my whole life,” I replied smoothly._

_Her laugh thundered through the dungeon._

“Emma. Emma! EMMA!”

The door of Emma’s room flew open and, startled, Emma looked up, ripping off her headphones. In the door opening stood Jacob, one of the counselors, looking pissed.

“Hi, Jacob. Come in,” Emma said smartly.

“We had an appointment. 30 minutes ago,” he reminded her annoyed.

Emma blanched and realized he was right. She _knew_ she was forgetting something.

“Shit, sorry Jacob. Uhm, still got time?” she asked, she had to keep Jacob as a friend.

Jacob sighed and his features softened. “Yes, but only because you asked nicely,” he said.

“Sweet! Is it okay if I finish this? I can’t pause it and I’m playing with a group,” Emma asked, pointing at her screen.

Final Fantasy XIV was open and her level 60 archer stood waiting. Next to her stood a samurai patiently waiting. Jacob glanced at it and groaned.

“Fine. You addict,” he said as he left her room. “Meet me in my office,” he called over his shoulder.

“Will do!”

Emma grabbed her headphones and shoved it over her ears.

“Sorry for the interruption,” she said as she made her avatar walk towards the final boss.

“ _No worries. Parents?”_ the female voice of Gaelira sounded in her ears.

“Something like that. Let’s do this!”

Emma walked her avatar into the last room, her appointment with Jacob already half-forgotten…

~~~

Excitedly, Emma left her room in the hotel she was staying at in Las Vegas, to head down to the Final Fantasy Fan Festival. She had been so lucky to score a relatively affordable room in the same hotel where the event was being held. She had managed to convince Jacob to let her go. Emma had been dying to go and finally Jacob had deemed her independent and old enough to go. Emma had been playing Final Fantasy since she could hold a console. Neal, one of her foster brothers had Final Fantasy IX on his PlayStation and had introduced Emma to the game. Emma had been playing ever since and was now playing Final Fantasy XIV, where she had built quite the name for herself in the game. She really hoped she would bump into a few familiar faces these coming days, she looked forward to meeting her friends in real life. She had asked around in her company and quite a few were going. Emma checked her watch and saw that she had 45 minutes left until the doors would open. She managed to walk more up front and spent her time admiring all the cosplay around her. From the pockets of her jacket, she pulled out her earplugs and plugged them in her phone. Crowded places made her a bit nervous and music helped. She scrolled through her phone looking for the right music and landed on the latest album of the Cranberries. Emma always had a thing for Dolores O’Riordan’s voice, it was so powerful and their songs had helped her through a lot of difficult moments in her life. Suddenly someone bumped into her from behind and, before Emma could react, the person responsible vanished in the crowd. The only thing Emma had caught was a red flash and two swords tied on the back. She sighed and prepared herself for even more bumping today. She didn’t really mind; she knew it would be busy. Finally, under a lot of cheering, the doors opened and Emma followed the crowd inside. She knew she had some time to kill before the official opening and first made her way to the merchandise. When Emma entered the merchandise room, she saw she wasn’t the only one to go there. She decided to go later when it wasn’t so busy and made her way to the game room. There were rows and rows of gaming pc, all of them had Final Fantasy XIV open. Emma walked past several people who were already in-game and she hoped to spot her friends there. At the end of one row a blonde, tiny girl was playing and when Emma glanced at the screen, she realized it was Tinker Bell. Excitement bubbled up and Emma pulled out her earplugs and tapped the girl on her shoulder. The girl turned around with a questioning look, which stayed as she looked up at Emma.

“Tink? Is that you?” Emma exclaimed. “It’s me, Aithlin!” she explained.

“Oh my god!! You made it!” The girl stood up from her chair and engulfed her in a bear hug. Emma gladly returned it, hugging the girl back. “So good to see you! You’re shorter than I imagined,” she added, giving Emma a good look over.

“Thanks, good to see you too, shorty,” Emma chuckled.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe you’re actually here! Now I can hug you and stalk you in real life,” the girl winked.

“If I don’t hug and stalk you first,” Emma retorted.

“Oh, Red Wolf is here too. I think she’s over there,” Tink said as she motioned to the rows across them. “Wait.” She sat down and quickly typed something in the game. “Look if someone is standing up,” Tink ordered Emma.

Emma looked at the rows before her and indeed, a brunette with a red streak in her hair stood up. “I’ve spotted her,” Emma said as she waved at the girl.

“Awesome,” Tink smirked and stood up again, watching the girl with the red streak walking over to them.

“You must be Aithlin,” the brunette smirked and Emma had to look up a bit as she was much taller than her.

“Yes. It’s Emma in real life though. Wish I had such a kick-ass name,” Emma replied.

“Ruby,” the brunette said and pulled Emma into another bearhug. “It’s so great to see you for reals now! This is really so awesome,” Ruby exclaimed as she let go of Emma.

“Same!” Emma agreed and looked aside at Tink, curious to her real name.

“My name is actually Tink,” the tiny blonde smirked.

“Seriously?” Ruby eyes went wide with surprise and Emma looked at her astonished as well.

“Well, it’s actually Katinka, but I _loathe_ that name,” she added with a sigh.

“Tink it is then!” Ruby laughed.

Emma looked around the room, searching for Gaelira. She had said she would come, but hadn’t said what she would be wearing.

“I haven’t seen Gaelira yet. She isn’t online yet either,” Ruby said, as she saw Emma searching.

“I wasn’t…” Emma started, but Ruby cut her off.

“Don’t even start, we all know you gays have the hots for each other,” Ruby said matter of factly.

Tink snorted next to Emma, while Emma tried to find something to protest.

“We are… Okay, at least I do,” she admitted, seeing there was no point in denying it.

“Good girl. I’ll keep my eye open for _your_ samurai,” Ruby called over her shoulder as she walked back to her pc.

“She’s not my… Oh, never mind,” Emma sighed as she realized Ruby was either not hearing her or actively ignoring her. “Hey, I’m gonna head over to the merch now. See you guys at the main stage later?” she asked Tink.

“Totally! Enjoy the merch, I already picked up mine,” Tink replied as she sat back into her chair.

“Alright, see you in a bit!”

Emma walked out of the game room and saw the merchandise room had become a bit quieter. There was of course still a line. Emma walked up to the line and put back her earplugs. Up ahead she saw a flash of red and when she looked closer, she saw it was someone cosplaying as a samurai. Something familiar about this cosplaying samurai hit her. She couldn’t place it though, as the person was standing with their back to her. But something in the way they were carrying themselves… she had seen it before. They had an air around them, but Emma couldn’t remember where she might have seen them. The line moved and the person disappeared out of her line of sight. Emma sighed and checked her watch again. If the line would hurry up, she would make it to the opening in time. The line moved again and soon enough it was Emma’s turn. She handed over her order confirmation and her ID and waited for her order. She looked aside and just caught a glimpse of that same red cloak that seemed to follow her around.

“Miss?”

Emma looked up and accepted the backpack containing the sweater, shirt, Alpha plush and a Bard pin she’d ordered.

“Thank you.”

“Enjoy your day!”

Emma smiled and walked out of the merchandise room, swinging the backpack on her back. She made her way to the mainstage and managed to find three seats for her, Tink and Ruby. She sat down and pulled out her phone, sending a quick text to Jacob that she was having a blast.

“Emma! There you are!”

Tink came bouncing down the aisle of chairs, Ruby followed hot on her tail.

“I saved you guys a seat,” Emma said as she pulled her backpack of one of the chairs.

As she looked up, she spotted someone in red behind Ruby.

“You’ll never guess who we found,” Ruby beamed.

“Santa?” Emma deadpanned.

“Nope.”

Ruby sidestepped and revealed the person behind her. Emma’s mouth dropped, behind Ruby stood the red samurai. But that wasn’t the most surprising of it all. Emma _knew_ the person in the samurai costume.

“Regina?”

Right in front of her stood Regina Mills, the HBIC of Storybrooke High, gaping at her with open mouth.

 “Hell no!”

Regina turned on her heels and disappeared through the crowd.

“Shit.”

Emma flew off her chair and scrambled past a bewildered Ruby. She dug her way through the crowd and spotted a flash of red turning the corner to the main hall. Emma dashed after her.

“Regina, wait!” she yelled.

Finally, in the main hall, Emma caught up with her and grabbed her arm. Regina spun around, her eyes were spitting fire.

“What the hell, Swan? What are you doing here?” she spat.

“Same as you, I imagine,” Emma replied.

“No, no, you can’t be here. This can’t be… This was not the plan.” Regina was full on panicking now and Emma didn’t know what to do for a moment. “You weren’t supposed to be here. If they find out…” Regina was pacing up and down until Emma grabbed her arm again and made her stand still.

“If who finds out?” she asked.

“You don’t understand, if they know I’m a nerd like you, they’ll drop me,” Regina was crying now.

“You mean your clique?” Emma guessed.

“No. My friends, Emma. My friends!” Regina spat.

“Well, if you can’t be honest about what you like, I don’t think they’re real friends,” Emma retorted.

Regina ripped herself out of Emma’s grasp and started pacing again. “I… I need to leave,” she said, her voice suddenly calm.

“No, hey, wait. Let’s not overreact. They don’t need to know, okay?” Emma offered.

Regina looked at Emma surprised. “You would keep it a secret?” she asked stunned.

“Yeah, if that makes you stay,” Emma shrugged.

“Why?” Regina asked as she stalked closer to Emma.

“Because you clearly have looked forward to this event and everyone deserves to be themselves every now and again,” Emma explained.

“You would really do that for me?” Regina asked again.

“Yes. And if somehow, word got out, you can send your quarterback boyfriend to beat me up, deal?” Emma offered.

_Did she imagine it or did Regina shiver at the mention of her boyfriend?_

“Fine, okay. Deal,” Regina finally gave in and seemed to relax slightly. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Emma said. “Shall we go back? I think Tink and Ruby are keeping our seats,” she said.

“Yeah.” Next to each other, they walked back through the main hall to the main stage. “So you’re Aithlin?” Regina asked, as she looked aside at Emma.

“Who told you?” Emma asked surprised, already forgotten who had introduced them.

“Ruby,” Regina said, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

Emma open mouthed gaped at Regina, taking in her cosplay for real now. She saw the little details and pieced it together.

“OH MY GOD!!!” she exclaimed. “You’re Gaelira!”

Regina smirked and nodded. Suddenly she went pale. “And you know an awful lot about me,” she said, remembering their in-game conversation.

“I can say the same about me,” Emma shrugged, suddenly shy.

“I guess it makes us even, we both know embarrassing stuff about each other,” Regina chuckled.

“We do."

They managed to reach their chairs just in time before the official opening would start. Both Ruby and Tink looked up so fast Emma was wondering if they were suffering from a whiplash now.

“Where did you go?” Ruby asked

“You two know each other?” Tink asked yelling.

Emma chuckled. “We went to the main hall to talk, and yes, we know each other.”

“We go to the same school,” Regina added.

“No way! What a coin-ki-dink,” Ruby smirked, wiggling her eyebrows at Emma.

“Will you stop that?” Emma smirked.

It was only then that she saw there was only one chair left. “You go sit down, Queen Bee,” Emma teased. “I’ll stand.”

“Don’t be silly,” Regina protested.

“Go sit down. I’m not the one constricted in their costume,” Emma replied smartly.

Regina glared at Emma, but sat down anyway. She barely sat when the lights dimmed, the opening was about to start. Emma leaned with her hand on the back of Regina’s chair and smiled when she felt how Regina rested her head against her hips. Emma moved her hand to Regina’s shoulder, stroking it softly. This could possibly turn out to be the best con ever…

~~~

The first day had flown by. Emma and Regina sat at the bar, sipping their ginger ale and bitter, both completely exhausted. Luckily for them, the bar wasn’t really busy. Most people had already left to their rooms, but Emma and Regina had decided to wind down from the first hectic day. They had asked Ruby and Tink to join them, but they had opted for their bed. So now they sat next to each other, like they had been friends forever. Which was technically true, if only in-game.

“There’s something I don’t get,” Emma said, as she looked aside at Regina.

“What?” Regina asked, turning her head to Emma.

“You told me quite early on that you’re gay,” Emma started.

“Uhuh.”

“Then what are you doing dating Robin?” Emma asked, playing with the umbrella in her drink.

Regina sighed, she knew Emma would ask this at one point or another.

“It’s just what you do, you date boys. I told my mother, you know?” Regina said and ducked her head. “She forbid me to come home with a girl. My friends at school don’t even know,” she added softly and pain laced her voice.

“Just like they don’t know you’re into this,” Emma said, motioning to the festival.

“No.”

“God, I can’t imagine how it’s like to hide so much,” Emma sighed and looked back at Regina.

“Exhausting. I hate it,” Regina replied quietly.

“Then why not come clean then? It’s 2019, for crying out loud,” Emma asked, wanting for Regina to be just herself.

“My mother would throw me out and my friends would never look at me again,” Regina countered.

“I’m sorry, Regina,” Emma offered, placing her hand on Regina’s arm.

For a moment Emma was scared Regina would shrug it off as she felt her tense, but Regina just ducked her head.

“What’s another year pretending, right?” Regina said, trying to smile.

“Yeah.”

Emma didn’t know what to say to console the sad girl next to her. She looked so broken and unhappy and Emma wanted to just hug her and tell her everything would be alright. Regina glanced at her watch and groaned.

“I should get going if I want anything resembling a decent night,” she said and started to get up.

Emma slapped ten bucks on the counter and stood up as well. “Let me walk you to your room,” she offered.

“I’m not staying here,” Regina said as she wriggled into her coat. “The hotel was already full when I wanted to book.”

“You’re not going out on the streets at this hour. God knows what scum roam the streets,” Emma protested. “You’re staying with me,” she decided.

“But…”

“I have a twin bed, don’t worry, I won’t jump your bones,” Emma joked and pulled Regina with her.

“Wouldn’t mind if you did,” Regina mumbled behind her and Emma turned around as if hit by lightning, her eyes wide. “I mean, I’ve kinda had a crush since you enrolled,” Regina admitted.

A stupid grin appeared on Emma’s face and softly she planted a kiss on Regina’s plump lips. “Maybe a little to soon to jump your bones, but you’re more then welcome in my bed,” Emma winked.

“Deal.”

Emma felt giddy, this was going to be awesome, even if it only lasted for these two days…


	2. Chapter 2

Monday morning came way too soon. Regina shut up her alarm by throwing it to the other side of the room. She groaned and wished she could turn back time. The weekend had gone by in a flash and she just wanted to go back. She had felt so at ease and had thoroughly enjoyed herself. Perhaps it had something to do with Emma being there as well.

Regina dragged herself out of her bed and got dressed. She wondered what it would be like to see Emma again. She did her makeup and hair quickly, grabbed her schoolbag on the way, and walked out of her room.

“Ah, I was just about to call you, Miss Mills,” Renata, their housekeeper, said with a thick Spanish accent.

“Thank you, Renata,” Regina nodded towards the older woman as she sat down for the already prepared breakfast. Regina glanced at the seat where normally her mother would sit and read the paper. “Do you happen to know where my mother is this morning?” Regina asked, as she grabbed the cereal and a bowl with yogurt.

“She had to go to court early. She told me to tell you to have a good day at school,” Renata filled her in.

“Thank you.”

Regina sighed and was left alone by Renata. She felt dread fill her stomach, she really didn’t want to go to school. She checked her watch, hoping she would have some time left to log into Final Fantasy XIV, but, unfortunately, she had overslept. She groaned; she wasn’t sure if she was ready for this day.

Regina looked up as her phone vibrated and she picked it up.

**Robin: _Hi babe. Did you have a good weekend?_**

Regina bit her underlip, not sure if she wanted to reply. She hadn’t told Robin about her actual plans. Instead, she had told him she wanted to spend some time with her friends and thus couldn’t see him during the weekend. He hadn’t been happy about it, but hadn’t been bugging her to stop by nonetheless.

**Me: _Hey babe. Yes, I had a great weekend. I missed you though._**

She felt a ball form in her stomach as she typed the last sentence. She hadn’t been thinking about him one second these past few days and she realized she didn’t even feel guilty about it. Her phone vibrated again: it was Kathryn this time.

**Kathryn: _Hey honey. Do you mind picking me up on the way to school? My brother needs the car :(_**

Regina typed a quick reply that she would be there in ten minutes. Quickly she finished her breakfast and texted a bit with Robin, who had, _surprise, surprise,_ been playing football. She knew he had a big match at the end of the week and he had probably been training. Regina never had understood the game, she found it fairly pointless. Robin had tireless explained the rules to her, but to no avail. She had shown up to his every game as a good girlfriend did, but most of the time she had been thinking of strategies for the dungeons in Final Fantasy XIV.

Regina said goodbye to Renata and got in her car. She turned on the radio and hit play on her phone. Linkin Park’s ‘In The End’ blasted out of her speakers and she turned up the volume as she drove away. She knew she had to switch to something mellow like Ed Sheeran when she picked up Kathryn, so she enjoyed the music while she could. Her fingers tapped along with the rhythm and she shouted along with the chorus as she made her way to Kathryn’s. As she stopped before the house, she saw Kathryn wasn’t out yet and honked the horn a few times. It wasn’t very lady-like, but she was too tired to care. As she watched Kathryn coming down to her car, she turned down the volume and put on the new album by Mumford & Sons. Kathryn plopped down in the car seat, dropping her schoolbag in the back.

“Morning. Thanks for picking me up. My brother is being a dick,” Kathryn huffed as Regina drove off.

She placed two coffee-to-go in the holders and Regina nodded appreciatively.

“No problem. It’s practically on the way to school,” Regina replied with a gentle smile.

She hated to have to put up such a show. She just wanted to be herself and listen freely to whatever music she wanted and _do_ whatever she wanted. She gripped her steering wheel tight to keep her posture as Kathryn prattled on about mundane stuff like clothes and makeup. Regina really didn’t care. She didn’t really know where this mood came from, but she wanted to scream. She wanted to cut the proverbial cords of her marionette controller.

“How was your weekend? Spend it with Robin?” Kathryn suddenly asked. “I haven’t seen you at all,” she complained as she inspected her immaculately painted nails.

“Uh, no. I was out of town with my mother,” Regina quickly made up.

“I thought you hated your mother,” Kathryn replied and Regina could practically _hear_ the frown.

“I do,” Regina said, she didn’t need to lie about that. “But we had to visit family,” she added.

“Ah, right.”

Regina tuned out again when Kathryn started retelling every second of her weekend with David. Kathryn was dating David, a handsome senior and football player. He had been dating a quiet junior named Mary Margaret, but Kathryn had schemed him away from her. Regina hadn´t exactly approved, but Kathryn had told her to shut up and that David could do better than that mouse. Regina had let it slide, not wanting to get in a fight with Kathryn.

Soon enough they reached the school and together they walked to their _clique_ , as Emma had eloquently called it. Their group consisted of her, Kathryn, Mal, little Nova and Aurora. Nova was only a sophomore, but Mal had a soft spot for her, so they had allowed her into their group.

“Hey ‘Gina!” Aurora greeted her enthusiastically. “You’ve been quiet these last days,” she said as she hooked her arm through Regina’s.

“Yeah, I was out of town visiting family,” Regina lied again and her eye caught a flash of blonde passing them.

As Regina wanted to divert her eyes, the blonde girl looked up and Regina saw it was Emma. The blonde smiled friendly at her and Regina had to do everything in her power not to run over to Emma. She missed the blonde next to her. They had spent all weekend together and Regina had ended up sleeping over the second night as well in Emma’s room. Emma had been very chivalrous and hadn’t laid a hand on her, they had just cuddled until they fell asleep. Regina had missed Emma last night; her bed had felt cold and empty.

Regina blinked and saw Emma had disappeared. Desperation caught Regina around her neck and she swallowed thickly. She hated being a marionette doll.

“Hello, earth to Regina?”

Regina looked up startled and saw Kathryn, Mal, Aurora and Nova looking at her curiously.

“Sorry, what?” she asked, trying to cover up her desperation.

She needed to get her act together soon or they would notice she was acting weird. She took a deep, steadying breath and plastered a fake smile on her face.

“If we’re going to the game together Friday,” Mal said, clearly annoyed that she had to repeat herself.

“Of course! We always do, right?” Regina nodded and grabbed her bag as the bell rang. “See you after first period!” she waved and walked into the school.

This was getting ridiculous; she should have never gone to that festival. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have run into Emma and her feelings wouldn’t be all over the place. She had been able to conceal this all of her life, why was it so hard now?

“That fake smile doesn’t suit you.”

Regina practically jumped out of her skin and looked up. Next to her stood Emma, leaning nonchalantly against the locker next to her, wearing her signature grin.

“Don’t, Swan,” Regina growled.

Emma backed up a bit, surprised by Regina’s demeanor. “I’m sorry. I just…”

“I told you, we can’t hang out at school,” Regina said, softening her voice.

“No one of your _clique_ is around as far as I can see,” Emma remarked.

Regina sighed, longing so badly to touch Emma again, or feel her touch. She leaned her forehead against the cool metal, hoping it would freeze the turmoil in her head.

“You never know who is watching, Emma,” she said softly, _dying_ to get out of this role she was playing.

“It must be so exhausting to be you.”

Emma said it so gently that it made Regina look up. She really didn’t understand why Emma was being so nice, while she was being an utter bitch.

“Well, good thing you don’t have to do it,” Regina replied harshly and closed her locker with a slam. “Goodbye, Miss Swan.”

She saw the hurt in Emma’s eyes, but she had to do it. She had to cut Emma out of her life if she wanted to get her act together. Only one more year to go, then she could be whoever she wanted to be and maybe even reconcile with Emma. But not now, not here. Regina made it just in time to her first period and sat down in the back of the class…

~~~

Regina sat in the bleachers at the edge of the football field watching Robin train. She had felt so bad all day that she had lashed out at Emma and had multiple times almost ran to her and apologized to the blonde. She could still see the pain in Emma’s eyes whenever she closed her eyes and she doubted Emma would ever talk to her, in real life or in game. Regina had been afraid of this when they had met at the festival. She knew she had to go back to her old life and she had doubted Emma would understand. Clearly, she didn’t.

“Hey babe, what brings you here?”

Regina looked up and saw a sweaty Robin stand on the bottom of the bleachers. Regina stood up and walked down the bleachers to the fence that separated them.

“I wanted to make it up to you for not being here all weekend,” Regina said sweetly.

“Aawwe, you are too sweet. are going to grab a milkshake after practice. Want to join?” Robin asked, looking back at the boys in the field.

Regina followed his line of sight and realized she had nothing to go home to. “Sure, why not,” Regina smiled.

“Awesome. See you in a bit.”

Robin ran off and Regina walked back to her seat. She watched Robin catch the football and throw it back and she sighed. Her mind wandered to the second morning she woke up next to Emma. The blonde was still vast asleep, her arm had hung over Regina’s waist, hugging her effectively to Emma’s warm body. She had just laid there, thinking she had never felt so safe in her life. As Regina watched Robin, she knew he would never be able to give her that secure feeling. It wasn’t fair of her to use him as her beard, especially since he didn’t know. She should break up with him, set him free. Defiantly she stood up, only to sink back in her seat. Her mother would kill her and her friends would never speak to her again.

_‘Well, if you can’t be honest about what you like, I don’t think they’re real friends.’_

Emma’s voice had sounded so determined when she said that and it was only now that Regina realized how true her words were. She sighed again. She had dug herself into a nice hole.

Once again, she looked up at Robin who had just thrown a bucket of water over himself to cool down. She shook her head; she had no idea what she had seen in him. Deep down she knew: nothing; but it was what she had to do. As the leader of the pack, she had to have the quarterback as her boyfriend. It was what was expected of her and her mother had approved of him as well. Yet Regina felt nothing whenever he kissed her. But when Emma Swan had kissed her, her entire body had been electrified. She could still feel the imprint of Emma’s lips on her, she could still recall how she had smelled.

“Babe, are you coming?” Robin asked, pulling her out of her thoughts.

“Yeah, I am.”

Regina jumped up from the bleachers and made her way down, meeting Robin at the bottom of the stairs. Chivalrously, he held open the door for her to slip through. Regina dodged him when he wanted to wrap his arm over her shoulders.

“You’re all wet,” she said at his look of surprise at her refusal.

“Oh,” he laughed. “Sorry.”

He disappeared into the locker room to shower and get changed. Regina leaned against the brick wall, looking out over the parking lot. The place was all but deserted and Regina could imagine Emma sitting behind her computer, playing quest after quest. Regina sighed; she would have to find another game to play now. No way she could play the same game as Emma after everything. She felt bummed about it, she really liked Final Fantasy XIV. The door opened and Robin came walking out. This time she allowed him to wrap his arm around her and as they walked to her car, she tried to feel as safe as she did with Emma, but she failed. She really was in deep shit…

~~~

Friday rolled around and the entire school was psyched for the football game. The evening before Robin had talked her ear off about different strategies and even made her watch a video of the competition. Regina had indulged him but had kicked him out of the house right after, complaining of a headache. He had told her he was worried about her, he thought she was acting strange all week. She couldn’t blame him, she felt miserable. She hadn’t talked to Emma all week and when she finally had logged back in on Final Fantasy XIV on Wednesday, Emma had ignored her there. She knew she could only blame herself, but she missed her friend. Better yet, she missed the prospect they could have together. Emma had been clear, she had feelings for her.

Regina sat in between Mal and Kathryn, feeling like a sandwich. The wind was cold and the clouds above them were expelling rain. It didn’t improve Regina’s mood. Even her friends had asked if she was alright and she had assured them it was just her period that was bothering her. They had accepted her excuses and went on with their gossiping. The game felt like it was taking hours and finally, the decision was made; Storybrooke High had won. People streamed down onto the field to congratulate the winning team and Regina was being dragged along.

“Gina!”

Robin, drunken with joy, engulfed her into a bearhug. Regina struggled against it, the pungent smell of sweat penetrated her nose. She wriggled free and felt she could not reproduce his happiness. All she felt was disgust. Disgust for who she was and what she was pretending to be. Across the field she saw a blonde flash and, as she focused, she saw Emma standing against the fence, looking straight at her.

“We won! We did it, babe!” Robin yelled in her ear, dragging her into the jumping crowd.

Regina looked back up at him. “Yeah,” she said and backed away from him.

She was done. She was done pretending. Done pretending she was in love with this boy. Her glance shifted to her so-called friends and she realized she was done with them as well. To hell with it all. She turned around and sprinted to Emma. She heard Robin call after her, she heard Mal yell her name, but she ignored it all.

She ran straight to Emma who pulled away from the fence, surprised. Regina all but jumped into Emma’s arms and kissed her hard. Surprised, Emma closed her arms around Regina and kissed her back. Eventually, they had to break apart for much-needed oxygen.

“Took you long enough,” Emma grinned.

“Shut up and kiss me.”

And Emma did just that…


End file.
